Get Allan McKay’s free Thanos VFX video training course
With the box-office-busting Avengers: Endgame due for its digital release later this month, VFX supervisor Allan McKay has released a new free VFX training course based around the movie’s antihero.
‘Decimation’, described by McKay as “easily the biggest” training course he has created, explains how to recreate a five-shot sequence of Thanos turning to ash.
Learn how to create movie-quality FX in 3ds Max, tyFlow and Phoenix FD
The course comprises 10 individual videos showing the workflow from start to finish, including the disintegration effect, character effects, lighting, shading, rendering and compositing.
The effects themselves are created in 3ds Max, using tyFlow, Tyson Ibele’s hotly tipped new particle toolset, currently in free open beta, and Phoenix FD, Chaos Group’s fluid simulation system.
The compositing workflow is shown in Nuke, After Effects and Fusion.
As well as the training videos, McKay is providing supporting assets for the shots, including tracked 4K background footage, HDRIs and LIDAR scans of the environment.
The Thanos character model – created by Franco Carlesimo and animated by Lucas Ridley, who worked on Avengers: Infinity War at ILM – is available an Alembic cache.
McKay says that he plans to release new assets for each successive video, and to live stream every day over the next 21 days to supplement the recorded training.
Availability
Allan McKay’s Thanos training course is available free via the link below. To access the files, you’ll need to register on McKay’s site.
Register for the free Thanos VFX training course on Allan McKay’s website